Second Chance at Life
by Sly Fox82
Summary: Even after Trigon's defeat, Raven can't seem to find peace. Slade returns, and this time he has a new apprentice, one who seems to have a strong connection to Raven's past. Chapter 2 is up!
1. Back to Work

Second Chance at Life

**Chapter 1: Back to Work**

Robin was lost in thought. He was lying on his bed looking up at the ceiling, trying to recount everything that had recently happened...

Raven had become the portal, allowing her father to take over the earth. With the encouragement she got from Robin, Raven managed to regain her powers and destroy her father and save the earth. Slade had lost life a while back, thanks to Terra. Trigon had promised to give Slade his flesh and blood back but later double-crossed him. In the end, Slade got what he wanted and now is out there somewhere, most likely plotting something.

Since then, things have been quiet and the Titans finally got to lay back for a bit. Saving the universe from an interdimensional demon meant lots parties and somewell deserved R&R. A special bond had formed between Robin and Raven. She now seemed closer to him than ever before. Even though Raven was good at hiding her feelings, she couldn't help but blush every time he happened tolook into her eyes. He himself felt like he had butterflies in his stomach whenever she was around. Maybe...

An alarm went off in the tower, signaling there was trouble. Robin jumped up from his bed and ran out the door of his room, into the hallway and crashed into Raven. They both were knocked back on the ground with a loud _thump_. Robin looked up into Raven's violet eyes. "Raven", he heard himself whisper. He quickly got up and offered her a hand.

"uh--sorry Raven, I-I didn't mean to knock you down, its just--"

"Robin, relax. It's not like you went into my room or something.", she cut him off with a smirk on her face. She took his hand and he gently helped her to her feet. "Thanks".

Robin smiled back at her. They both stood there looking at each other for a while before Robin was quickly brought back to reality as he noticed the alarm was still blaring."Right, well we better get to the living room". He turned towards the stairs and ran through the hall, Raven closely drifting behind him.

* * *

Robin ran through the door that led into the living room, followed by Raven. He looked around and saw that Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire were gathered around the TV which displayed a map of the city.

"Report!" ordered Robin.

"There's trouble downtown. Slade's robotic drones are on a rampage in the streets." answered Cyborg.

"Any sign of Slade?" Robin asked, hoping he would be able to take Slade down once and for all.

"Nah, just his robots."

"Geez, ya think after what happened with the whole 'end of the world' thing that he would lay low for a while.", commented Beast Boy.

"Titans, move out!". Robin, Cyborg, and BB quickly left the room. Starfire followed but looked back and saw Raven was still looking at the screen.

"Something troubles you, Raven?" asked Starfire.

Raven didn't respond.

"Raven?" asked Starfire again, a look of concern now apparent on her face.

Raven snapped out of her trance. She turn toward Starfire and said, "Sorry. I was just thinking about what Slade might be up to. He's not attacking anything in particular. He's got to be up to something."

"We would do best to be on our guard then." said Starfire.

"I'm just a little worried about Robin" replied Raven. "Come on, we'd better catch up with the others."

* * *

The full moon that night was beautiful sight to look at. It's light illuminating much of the night sky and reflecting off of the ocean's surface.. There was a slight wind, and not too far off a band of storm clouds were making their way to the city. It was going to be a stormy night...

Dozens and dozens of Slade's drones were marching down the streets. Many of them were carrying blasters that wrapped around their hands like a sort of handle. These drones looked similar to Slade, except that the type of mask they wore were black, with an orange circle in the middle of their faces, and white slits where their eyes should be.

A flurry of starbolts rained down on the crowd of drones, destroying a large number of them. Starfire continued to fire her starbolts at the small army, which began returning fire. She swiftly began dodging the shots while continuing to fire her own barrage.

Beast Boy came flying down in pterodactyl form, holding on to Cyborg with his claws as he fired his sonic cannon at the drones. BB glided close to the ground and let go of Cyborg, who rolled onto his feet and continued firing.

As soon as Beast Boy dropped off Cyborg, several of the drones shot Beast Boy in the wing, causing his to come crashing to ground. He quickly recovered and transformed into a rhino, ramming into the drones who had shot him.

* * *

Raven floated in the air and chanted the words, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!". Her eyes glowed white and a black aura surrounded her hands as she used her power to levitate several cars and smashed several drones with them.

Robin came riding in on his motorcycle. Two missiles were fired from the sides of his bike and destroyed several drones and sending others flying in all directions. As he got closer, he jumped off his bike and it continued on, driverless, running over a drone before it lost balance and crashed.

Meanwhile, Robin pulled out his retractable bo-staff and attacked an unsuspecting drone. Two other drones noticed what was going on and began shooting Robin. He began dodging shots and threw a couple of freezing discs that engulfed the bodies of the drones in ice. He quickly ran up and swiped his staff on his frozen enemies, shattering the ice as well as the frozen drones

_' What are you up to, Slade?' _Robin thought to himself, unaware that a drone was about to shoot him in the back. Raven brought up a black aura behind Robin that protected him from the blast. Robin looked behind him and noticed that Raven had just saved his life, and watched as Raven brought the shield down on the drone, engulfing it in the aura, and threw it against the wall.

He let out a sigh of relief and smiled at Raven. "Good looking out, Raven."

Raven barely had time to smile back before she felt something small latch onto her shoulder, and suddenly felt immense pain as she was shocked. She let out a cry of pain as the electricity coursed throughout her spine and lost consciousness in mid-air and began falling to the ground.

"Raven!" screamed Robin as he ran as fast as he could to catch her. He caught her in his arms just in time. He kneeled down and set her gently on the street. He wiped a strand of hair from her face and gently stroked her cheek, marveling at her beauty.

Robin was relieved to see that she was still breathing. He noticed that there was some sort of little device on the back of her shoulder. He took it off her and examined it. It was hot, smoke trailing off of it. He figured this was what electrocuted Raven and crushed it in his hand. He heard a familiar laugh from the left side of the street. He turned and looked up, and saw Slade on one of the rooftops, the full moon behind him.

"Nice to see you again, Robin. It's been too long.", said Slade. "I'm sorry about your little friend there, but I had to get your attention somehow."

"Slade! You won't get away with any of this, whatever you're up to!" yelled Robin, his voice full anger and hate. He reached into his utility belt and threw an explosive disc, but Slade moved out of the way just in time and ran off. Robin readied his staff and looked down at Raven."I'll be back, Raven. I promise." He took off and went after Slade.

* * *

The dozens of drones that originally filled the streets were not becoming hundreds. Manholes in the streets began bursting open as more and more drones came climbing out of them.

"Raven was correct..." began Starfire, "we have been lured into a trap!". She continued to shoot bolts and dodge a barrage of laser shots. Eventually, one shot found its mark on her shoulder. Distracted by the pain, she was shot again on her upper leg, then again on her chest. Starfire screamed as she fell from the sky and smashed onto a car. Immediately a drone jumped on top of her and began pounding her body.

"Starfire, NO!" cried out Cyborg as he turned to help, but instead watched as green line of energy pierced through the drone. Starfire's leg came up and kicked the drone away from her. Her eyes were glowing green as she stood up and wiped the blood from her mouth. She rose to the air, seemingly ignoring her bleeding wounds.

Just then, a drone had jumped onto Cyborg's back and was trying to rip his head off. Cyborg grabbed it the arms and threw it on the ground in front of him. He lifted his foot up and brought it down hard on the drone's face, crushing its head.

Beast Boy was kneeling next to Raven trying to wake her up. "Raven, come on wake up!". He began shaking her until she eventually came to. She sat up and rubbed her head. "You ok?" he asked her.

"Never been better", she replied sarcastically. She slowly got to her, her legs feeling wobbly. "Where's Robin!" she demanded.

"Uh... that's exactly what I was gonna ask you."

Raven was starting to get worried. She tried to clear her mind and remember, although it wasn't an easy task considering the intense headache she had. She remembered saving Robin's life... his smile... then an intense pain... a familiar voice... "Slade!" she yelled. "Robin's gone after Slade!"

"Figures that stubborn shrimp would run off on his own." Cyborg yelled out as he dodged a punch and delivered one of his own before turning to look at Raven. "Raven, this whole thing was a setup. If I know Slade, then Robin is in for a world of trouble. Find Robin, we'll take care of things here!

Raven nodded and flew off, using the map on her communicator to follow Robin's signal.

Beast Boy watched as Raven left and wished he could have been the one to go. Anything would've been better than to face hundreds of killer robots bent on killing him. He sighed. "Well, at least things can't get any worse--"

A loud _BOOM_ was heard as the sky was lit up with lightning. A shower of rain immediately began to pour down on them. Cyborg and Starfire shot a cold glare at the green changeling.

Beast Boy's face was flushed. "What!"

Cyborg got into his battle stance and readied his sonic cannon. "Alright, let's show these guys what we're made of. Titans, GO!".

* * *

Robin ducked beneath Slade's staff as it swung over his head. He swung his own staff upwards and connected with Slade's chin, who was sent flying end over end, but landed on his feet and sprung towards Robin. He struck his staff down on the ground and propelled himself forward, kicking Robin hard in the chest, sending him crashing and rolling to the ground. He coughed and got to his knees.

Slade didn't give him time to his feet. He sprinted towards Robin and kicked him hard in stomach. Robin was sent flying off the rooftop and crashed through a window of an abandoned warehouse.

Robin felt the shards of broken glass cut his uniform and skin. He landed hard on the ground, dust getting kicked up all around him.

_' Get up! you can't let him beat you like this '_, he thought to himself. He slowly managed to stand. He looked up and saw Slade running towards him. Slade began throwing a flurry of punches at Robin. He managed to block the first few, but his defenses were eventually broken as Slade hit him square in the chest with an open palm of his hand. Robin'sback impacted against a wall. His body slid down until he was sitting on the ground, unable to get up. Dust rose all around him, and he began coughing up blood. Slade began to chuckle. The psycho was enjoying every moment of this.

Slade watched Robin reach into his utility belt. He sprang forward and brought his knee up to Robin's face, breaking his nose. Slade noticed his knee was stained with Robin's blood. He laughed as he watched Robin cover his nose, trying to make the bleeding stop.

"Oh, Robin, when will you learn? You can't ever hope to defeat me." said Slade.

Robin leaned back against the wall and slowly managed to get to his feet.

"I can't risk having you or the other Titans alive anymore, especially after losing my life once already. I've decided to be a more little more careful with my new life and I think I'll start by killing you first." said Slade as he stood in front of Robin. He reached out and firmly grabbed Robin's throat and held him up high. Robin's arms were hanging at his sides. "Any last words before I put an end to your miserable life?"

"Yea" Robin coughed out blood but managed to let out a smile. "Do yourself a favor... and stay dead this time!" He suddenly slashed at Slade's chest with a birdarang he was holding in his hand, causing Slade to scream and lose his grip on Robin's throat. Slade staggered back, holding his wound as blood seeped through his fingers.

Robin delivered a spinning kick to Slade's face, slightly cracking his mask. Before Slade could retaliate, he quickly pulled out his line gun and fired a grappling cable up towards the ceiling. Slade watched in fury as the boy ascended into the air and out of his grasp.

"This is for Raven!" yelled Robin as he dropped explosive discs down on Slade. He watched Slade bring up his arms to try and cover his face, but was engulfed in smoke and fire as the discs detonated all around him. After a few seconds the smoke cleared, but there was no sign of Slade. There was, however, a trail of blood stains that led into the shadows of the warehouse.

_' Damn' _Robin dropped onto a support beam and jumped to the ground. He grunted as he landed, his whole body aching with pain. He wiped the blood from his nose and looked around for Slade. ' _Well at least I know I hurt him.'_

Slade's voice was heard, but he was nowhere to be seen."Very good, Robin. You've proven to be more cunning than I thought."

"Show yourself!" demanded Robin. He narrowed his eyes, trying to find where the voice was coming from. It was impossible to tell where it was coming from because of the rain that was leaking into the warehouse, causing constant loud dripping and splashing sounds. "Why did you attack the city!"

"Trycontacting one ofyourfriends. Maybe they can tell you... if they're still alive that is." Slade laughed but was unable to hide the pain.

Robin's eyes widened. This whole thing was a trap to lure him away, leaving his team without a leader. He remembered how he left his friends fighting alone... how he left Raven unconscious on the street. He reached for his communicator, but heard something fly through the air and latch onto his chest. It was the same thing that electrocuted Raven. His whole body began to shake with pain as a jolt of electricity lanced up his spine and throughout his body. When it finally stopped, his legs gave out and he fell to his knees, slowly losing his grip on consciousness.

For an instant, lightning lit up the dark room, revealing Slade walking up to Robin from behind. "Like I said earlier, Robin. You can NEVER hope to beat me.", he sneered. Slade raised his fist and brought it down hard on Robin's head, knocking him face down on the ground. Before he lost consciousness, he heard a faint voice calling out his name. It was Raven.

"Raven..." he whispered,his vision fading to black.


	2. Mira

**Author's note: Sorry about the delay, everyone. School just started two weeks ago and it gave me a huge writer's block. Plus, i didn't really have that much time to write anyway. But here it is, chapter 2. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer (just in case): I do not own teen titans. Otherwise, I wouldn't be writing on a fan-fiction site now would I? Now that we have that out of the way, here's chapter 2:**

**Chapter 2: Mira**

Raven entered the dimly lit warehouse through the shattered window where Robin came crashing through earlier. On the dusty floor, she could see pieces of glass stained with blood. She looked around and was shocked to see Robin's body lying face down on the ground.

"Robin!" she flew over to him and knelt by side. She turned him over and bit her lip as she saw blood leaking from his broken nose and the sides of his mouth. His uniform was torn in several places, revealing cuts caused by the broken glass. She set her fingertips on Robin's neck and gave out a sigh of relief as she felt a pulse—faint, but he was at least still alive. She brushed the back of her hand on Robin's cheeks, wiping the blood off his face. "I'm here, Robin. Don't you go dying on me," she whispered.

"Raven, to what do I owe this pleasant surprise?" Slade's voice echoed from the shadows. "Robin and I were just having a friendly chat, but I guess things got a little out of hand. You know how Robin gets."

Raven sighed deeply and stood up, clenching her fists. "Come out of hiding and I'll show you how 'out of hand' I can get," Raven's voice was full of anger. She utterly despised Slade for everything he has done in the past, especially to Robin. She looked around to see where the voice came from. "What's the matter, Slade? Too afraid to come out of hiding?"

"Who's hiding?" whispered a voice from behind Raven's shoulder. She barely had enough time to turn around to see Slade's fist coming at her face. Her vision flashed as she was hit hard and knocked to the ground. Slade didn't give her time to recover and kicked her in the stomach, sending her rolling across the dirt-covered floor. Raven coughed, pain flowing through her lungs as she tried to catch her breath.

"It was a mistake to come here, Raven." Slade pulled out and extended his staff. "Leaving the others behind to come save someone who isn't even worth saving, it's pathetic. Had you stayed with the others they might have had a chance of survival, but now they're as good as dead."

"The only one here who isn't worth saving is you!" Raven levitates a wooden crate and hurls it at Slade, but Slade swings his staff at the incoming crate and smashes it to pieces. Raven quickly gets to her feet and gets into battle stance. "And unless you've forgotten, we've beaten your worthless drones before and we can do it again," she said in a resolute tone.

Slade only laughed, making Raven raise an eyebrow in confusion. "My dear child," he spoke in his usual calm and sadistic tone, "it's not the drones that I am talking about. They merely serve as a first wave, their purpose was to exhaust your friends' so that they may be easy prey to… well, let's just say someone from your family heritage."

"What are you talking about?" asked an irritated Raven.

Slade didn't respond. Instead, he reached into his belt and threw a pair small, explosive rounds at her. Raven brought up a dark shield in front of her, the round objects exploding harmlessly on it. Slade took advantage of her distracted state to jump over the plume of smoke and land behind Raven. "Die!"

* * *

A blast from Cyborg's sonic cannon hit the midsection of a drone and sent it flying into a car, causing it to explode, engulfing two nearby drones in the explosion. Another one jumped in front of him and threw a punch but Cyborg caught its fist with one hand. "Big mistake" he said. He tightened his grip on the drone's hand and crushed it. He brought his sonic cannon up to the drone's midsection and fired, blasting a hole through its torso. Cyborg released his grip on the fist and let the drone drop to the ground in a heap.

Beast Boy, while in gorilla form, was rampaging through a crowd of drones, tearing one in half with his bare hands and throwing the pieces at other drones. Several blaster shots scorched his back and he winced in pain. Each shot burned his skin like drops of hot oil, and if it weren't for his thick gorilla skin, he'd probably be dead by now. He turned and saw the there were at least five drones shooting at him, too many shots being fired at him for him to charge at them.

He was about to transform into a triceratops when two green beams came from above and slashed through the bodies of the drones, slicing them in half. He looked up and saw Starfire floating in the sky. Her eyes were glowing a bright green and her long red hair was soaked from the rain, sticking to her face and neck. He raised a shaky hand and gave her a thumb up. Starfire returned a smile, but she was far from cheerful.

It had been a long and grueling battle. They had managed to dwindle the number of drones from hundreds to around fifty, but all the fighting had taken its toll on them. They were all exhausted, and the fact that Raven and Robin were still not back only made them feel worse, Starfire most of all. She still loved Robin, and the thought of losing him filled her with great worry.

She turned to face the remaining drones that were now grouped together. _'I mustn't let this continue any longer,' _she thought. "We have wasted enough time," Her eyes flared to life and her hands glowed green, "this ends now!" She screamed and flew straight into the crowd of drones, blasting her way through them. Those that raised their weapon at her were destroyed before they could even take aim. One after another fell as she fought her way to the center of the crowd and stopped.

She was completely surrounded by drones and they all jumped at her, ready to tear her limb from limb. Just before any of them could land on her, Starfire cried out and a bright flash of green light emitted from her body, momentarily blinding Beast Boy and Cyborg. Beast Boy slowly opened his eyes and allowed his vision to focus. His mouth dropped as he saw that there wasn't a single drone left. The ground where they once stood was reduced to a huge smoking crater in the middle of the street. Nothing was left except the tamaranian girl that floated victoriously above the crater.

"Starfire, that was awesome!" yelled Beast Boy cheerfully, raising his fist into the air. "Remind me never to get on your bad side!" added Cyborg.

Starfire sighed deeply and smiled, her face slightly turning red. "I thank you, friends. But we mustn't waste any more time. Let us find our friends--" before she could say anything else, she cried out as a blue light struck her in the back and threw her to the ground. She panted as she struggled to get back on her feet.

"I wouldn't worry about them if I were you," a feminine voice was heard. The Titans looked up to where the voice came from. On one of the rooftops, they saw a shadowy, slender figure standing on the ledge, her eyes glowing a bright blue. "Especially when you've got enough problems of your own." She leapt off the roof and landed perfectly without making so much as a whimper. The light from a street post illuminated her body, making her features visible.

She looked like she was probably 17. She had a slender body, her skin was clear and looked smooth as silk; her red hair was tied back in a bundle except for a few bands of hair that hung over her sweet face; she had a black earring and two other piercings on her right ear. She wore a black t-shirt, the sleeves and collar torn off, and baggy black cargo pants, with the bottom of the leggings tucked into her black boots. She had black wristbands and several purple bracelets on each arm.

There was something about her eyes, though. Her eyes were a blend of blue and green, but there something about those eyes—an evil glare—that sent chills up the titans' spines. She looked over them and cursed under her breath, realizing that she arrived late and that Raven must've gone off somewhere.

They remained silent for a moment before Starfire finally demanded, "What have you done with our friends!"

"I have no idea where your friends are. I was actually kind of hoping to find all everyone here," she said in a disappointed tone. "Particularly Raven. She's the only I'm really interested in right now. But," an evil smile spread across her face, "since we're all here, we may as well have some fun."

"Who are you!" demanded Cyborg, who readied his sonic cannon and aimed it at the newcomer. "And what do you want with Raven?"

"My name is Mira," her voice taking on a serious tone, "and what I want with Raven is none of your business." She raised her hand and it eerily began to glow blue, surrounded with what appeared to be a blue electricity and forming into an aura. "But that should be the least of your concerns right now." She hurled the ball of energy at Cyborg, who fired his sonic cannon in return. The two blasts collided and the result was a large explosion that hurled several pieces of gravel in every direction. A cloud of smoke full of electrical discharges obscured the fighters' view of each other.

"Whoa," muttered Beast Boy as he lowered his arms from covering his face.

"Think fast!" Mira leapt out of the cloud of smoke with an amazing speed and headed straight for Cyborg, who was too surprised to react in time. Her fist flashed blue and Cyborg was met with a powerful blow to his chest, which sent him flying back and crashing to the ground, stopping next to Beast Boy.

"Cyborg!" cried out Starfire. Beat Boy knelt down next to him and saw that Cyborg had a huge dent on his chest. "Heh, no sweat, Cy, we can buff that right out!" he said as he tried to grin.

"Not now, Beast Boy" said Cyborg as he grunted in pain and got back on his feet. "Just wait till I get my hands on--"

"Do yourself a favor," interrupted Mira, "and just give up now. You're only making the pain last longer by resisting."

Starfire's eyes and hands flashed a bright green and she flew straight for Mira. As she approached, Starfire fired green beams from her eyes, but Mira swiftly dodged them and soon both girls were fighting hand to hand. Even though Star was very exhausted from destroying all the drones, she was giving Mira the fight of her life. They were both moving at an incredible speed; Star threw several punches at Mira, who blocked and dodged each attack, and countered with her own punches and a spinning kick. Star dodged each punch and caught Mira's leg, tossed Mira over her shoulder and slammed her hard into the concrete floor. Mira shook her head and fired a bolt of lightning from her hand, which hit Starfire's torso, sending her flying back and slamming into a brick wall. Starfire groaned as she fell off the wall and collapsed on the ground.

Mira was struggling to get back up, so Beast Boy took this opportunity to jump high over Mira and transform into whale. Mira's eyes widened as she gasped, seeing the huge mass falling towards her. She quickly summoned what power she could, extended her arms up towards the whale, and unleashed powerful streams of blue lightning at him. Beast Boy couldn't hold his concentration as the huge amounts of electricity ran throughout his body, forcing him to return to his normal form barely conscious, falling into Mira's arms.

"Cute little guy," she said, her voice full of exhaustion. She stood up, holding Beast Boy in her arms. That last attack took a lot of energy out of her. If she was going to finish the others off, she was going to need more. "Too bad I have to kill you now… I probably could've kept you as a pet." She held Beast Boy by his throat with one hand. Her eyes began glowing white and both Beast Boy and Mira's bodies were surrounded by a blue aura. Beast Boy suddenly began to twitch and make strange gagging sounds. Mira's wounds began to heal and smiled as her power began returning to her.

* * *

Slade aggressively swung his staff at Raven's head but missed as she ducked just in time, the staff swiping the top of her hood, blowing it off and revealing her violet hair and the determined look on her face. Slade put too much power into that swing and that left him open for an attack. She set her hands up to his chest and, with a powerful force, repelled Slade across the room until he slammed into a wall.

Slade cried out as pain shot throughout his torso. He looked down at his chest and noticed that blood leaking from the wound Robin gave him earlier. He fell to the ground on his knees, quickly recovering and sprinted towards Raven. He raised his staff and prepared to bring it down on her head. She merely gestured her hand toward the staff and it was yanked out of his hands by an outside force. It floated in midair for a moment before it swung at Slade's face, knocking him down and cracking his mask. Raven motioned the staff down on and pressed it against Slade's neck, hard enough to keep him from getting back up but light enough to give him enough air to speak.

"You better start talking," Raven's voice was full of bitterness. "If the drone's were just the first wave, then what's the second wave?" She pressed the staff a little tighter on his throat. "Talk fast, I'm losing my patience."

Slade gasped for air. He didn't really have much of a choice right now so he decided to just tell her. Besides, it's not like it will make any difference—even if Raven knew about Mira and escaped with her friends, it would only be a matter of time before Mira would hunt them down and drain them all of their energy. Slade managed to let out a muffled laugh. "If you insist. But take heed, Raven, you may not like what you're about to hear..."

* * *

Beast Boy was getting drained of his life, his energy feeding Mira's power. Mira cursed under her breath again. She had nearly killed this one earlier so there really wasn't that much energy left in him. _'Oh well, no sense in letting it go to waste.' _She continued to drain him and was felt his grasp on life beginning to slip.

"Let go of him you freak!" screamed Cyborg, darting towards an unsuspecting Mira and tackling her with an incredible force. Mira felt the wind get knocked out of her and was thrown to the ground, holding her stomach and gasping for air. Cyborg put his boot down hard on her chest to keep her from getting up and aimed his sonic cannon at her head.

He looked into her eyes and felt something strange. Her eyes were beginning to fill up with tears... but why? Was she afraid of dying? No, it wasn't that. Cyborg could tell from the look in her eyes that it wasn't fear that was making her cry... it was sadness. They looked like she was suffering inside, and if there was any reason that she should be crying at that moment, he felt that it was because she actually WANTED to die. "Why are you doing this?" he asked gently.

She coughed but smiled at Cyborg. She now spoke in a different, peaceful tone, "I'm sorry, but... there's nothing I can do... to stop him..."

"Stop who?" persisted Cyborg. "Who!"

"My father--" her face contorted with pain but subsided as the evil glare returned to her eyes. Without saying a word, she set her hands down on the ground and released a large amount of energy into it. The ground beneath them glowed blue for a moment before it exploded, engulfing both Mira and Cyborg in a plume of smoke and hurling huge chunks of gravel and concrete in every possible direction. Cyborg was sent screaming through the air and crashed through the window of grocery store.

Mira was thrown straight up into the air and fell back down into the crater she had created, her body landing with a loud _thud_. She was still alive, but badly hurt. She coughed up blood and her entire body was covered with cuts and bruises. _'Damn,_' she thought to herself, _'I'm still alive'._ Her grievance was replied by an evil voice within her mind, _'I won't let you die just yet, Mira. I still have much use for you.'_

Mira's mind filled with horrible pain as the evil inside her regained full control, the good within her subsiding deep within her own mind. Mira turned herself over and began crawling on her belly. Every muscle in her body was screaming in pain, she had almost no energy left in her. It was a wonder she was still conscious—still alive for that matter.

She made her way out of the crater and crawled over to where Starfire was lying. If she could just absorb the tamaranian's energy, she can heal herself quickly and increase her power. Mira inched her way to Starfire. She stretched out her arm, pain racing throughout her arm and shoulder, but managed to lay her hand on Starfire's arm. Both their bodies began glowing, Mira's wounds were beginning to heal quickly. Mira felt her strength returning to her laughed as she saw that Starfire was starting to shake uncontrollably.

Mira was almost completely healed when a dark aura wrapped around her body and violently jerked her away from a helpless Starfire. Mira was slammed several times on the same brick wall Starfire slammed into earlier, then slammed into the ground and dragged across the street, and finally sent crashing threw a window of a nearby pottery shop.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" cried out Raven hesistantly, engulfing the flower shop in a dark aura and causing it collapse down on Mira. Brick and concrete came crashing down, lifting dust and dirt in the air and creating a cloud around the rubble. She fell to her hands and knees. "Mira, I'm so sorry" said Raven, her voice full of sorrow and almost sounded like she was about to cry. "Please... forgive me, but I couldn't just let him control you like that... I... I would rather see you dead than suffer at father's hands...forgive me."

It was still raining, and the only sounds heard at that moment were the splashes of water on the empty streets of Jump City. Raven's hood was off, so her hair soaking wet and sticking to her face and neck. She fought back the tears and sighed deeply, standing back up and turning her attention to her friends.

Raven surveyed the damage around her; Beast Boy was lying unconscious next to one of the craters on the street, Cyborg was lying in a heap of magazines and crushed cans of food inside a shop, and Starfire was lying unconscious in front of a brick wall that had collapsed. She levitated their bodies and laid them next to Robin's on the sidewalk. Raven was about to open a portal and take them all home when she heard the sounds of debris behind her. She turned and gasped as she saw that something was coming out of the wreckage of the flower shop.

Mira stood up out of the ruins with an evil grin across her face, blood coming out through the side of her lips. She was holding her right arm, which was bent at an odd angle, broken. She laughed and said in a somewhat familiar voice, "Did you really think you could get rid of me that easily, Raven?" She walks out of the rubble and makes her way toward Raven, a slight limp in her step. Her voice now takes on Trigon's tone, "No matter how hard you try to be rid of me, you'll always be daddy's little girl." Suddenly, Mira holds her head in her hands and screams in agony, her cry a mixture of Trigon and the innocent Mira's voice. "Raven! Finish me!" she screams. "Silence! I still need your body," yells Trigon. "Raven… quick… before I lose… control... kill me!" She struggled with herself, twitching and moving irregularly, fighting for control of her body.

"Mira!" Raven's voice was full of despair. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't just bring herself to kill Mira, even if Trigon was controlling her body. She looked into Mira's saddened and terrified eyes, tears streaming down her face.

"Please--" screamed Mira, "—end it now!". She cried out once more before falling to her knees and bowed her head, remaining silent.

"Mira?" asked Raven nervously, slowly approaching Mira.

Mira's voice was back to normal and she began to chuckle, but Raven sensed that it wasn't the innocent Mira that was laughing— this was an evil laugh. She brought up her gaze and met Raven's shaky violet eyes. "You should have finished her when you had the chance!" She jumped up towards a bewildered Raven, "Now you're mine!" She reached for Raven's throat was only inches away from grabbing it when a birdarang flew by and sliced the side of her face. Mira shrieked and pulled back to cover her own face while Raven snapped back to reality and backed away from Mira.

"Don't you dare touch her," yelled Robin, staggering to his feet. His face showed signs of pain but he wasn't about to just stand by and watch Raven become another victim. He watched Mira feel the open cut on her cheek, blood oozing out and staining her fingertips as she touched it. "Raven, are you alright?" he asked, keeping his gaze locked on Mira.

"Robin," said an astonished Raven. She couldn't but smile, relieved to have Robin with her once again. "Yeah, I'm fine." She turned to look at Mira and saw that her eyes were now glowing red with hate. She turned back to look at Robin and quickly said, "Robin, there's no time to explain, but we have to get out of here NOW!"

Robin didn't object. He simply nodded and they both gathered next to the other Titans. Raven enshrouded them all in a black aura—

"No!" screamed Mira. Her hands flashed blue and she hurled bolts of energy at Raven and her friends—

The black aura sank into the sidewalk and disappeared, the bolts of energy exploding on the ground where they once stood.

* * *

Mira fell to her knees and slammed her fists hard into the ground, creating cracks in the road. She gritted her teeth in pain, the bones in her hand shattering. She lifted her head and screamed in rage, the rain hitting her face and soaking her crimson hair. Lightning emitted from her body and shattered windows and caused nearby cars to explode. She screamed until the air had completely left her lungs.

Mira's body was in horrible shape. The only reason she stayed conscious was because Trigon was in control. The pain was so intense, even for Trigon, so he decided to reside deep within Mira's mind until she fully recovered. Mira now regained full control of her body, but she regretted it when she felt the intense pain overwhelm her mind and body. She wanted to scream but didn't have to strength. She instantly fell unconscious and collapsed in a puddle of water. Thunder boomed and lit up the night sky, and soon the only sounds heard was of the rain splashing down on the cold and empty streets of the city.


End file.
